Adirondacks

Adk Museum Gets Newspaper Preservation Support

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The Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake, in Hamilton County has received a grant in the amount of $4,253 from the New York Newspaper Foundation in support of microfilm services in the museum’s research library.

According to Librarian Jerry Pepper, the funds will underwrite the partial cost of preserving twelve newspapers published in the Adirondack Park over the next two years.

The Adirondack Museum has long appreciated the unique role played by local newspapers in documenting every-day life in the Adirondacks, and has collected and microfilmed regional newspapers since 1970. The collection now contains 108 different regional newspaper titles in microfilm format, some dating from the early nineteenth century.

Since 2003 the museum has collaborated with the Northern New York Library Network to increase research access to its microfilmed newspapers and make them available for use on the Internet.

The project, called the Northern New York Historical Newspapers Project, has digitized and electronically indexed 1,693,000 individual pages from forty-four newspapers in the region. The initiative has proven to be a great asset to those interested in the region’s unique history: over 12 million online searches of the site are conducted annually.

The Adirondack Museum is grateful for assistance with preparation and submission of the successful grant proposal from John Hammond, Director of the Northern New York Library Network, and Catherine Moore, Publisher of the Adirondack Daily Enterprise.

Adirondack Book Awards Call For Submissions

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In 2006, the Adirondack Center for Writing (ACW) established the Adirondack Literary Awards, a juried awards program that honors books published in or about the Adirondacks in the previous year. Now one of the most popular annual events of ACW, this year’s deadline is March 8, 2010. Those wishing to submit a book published in 2009 to be considered for an award should send two copies of the book to Director Nathalie Thill, at the ACW office with a brief cover letter including author’s contact information and description of the book’s “qualifications.” Is the author from the Adirondack region, or is the book about or influenced by the Adirondacks in some way?

The cover letter should also name which category the author would like the book to be judged under: fiction, poetry, children’s literature, memoir, nonfiction, or photography. There is no entry fee. Do not include a SASE- books cannot be returned but will become part of reading rooms or libraries. The mailing address is: Adirondack Center for Writing, Paul Smith’s College, PO Box 265, Paul Smiths, New York 12970. Questions may be directed to Nathalie Thill at ACW at 518-327-6278 or [email protected].

Winners will be recognized at an awards ceremony to be held in June (date TBA via ACW website) at the Blue Mountain Center, which donates space and resources for the event. In addition to awards in each category mentioned above, there is a People’s Choice Award as part of this festive program. For a complete list of 2009 award winners, please check out the ACW Newsletter/Annual Report at our web site, www.adirondackcenterforwriting.org. Most of the books considered for awards are made available for purchase at the ceremony by the authors, and they are happy to sign their books.

The Adirondack Center for Writing is a resource and educational organization that provides support to writers and enhances literary activity and communication throughout the Adirondacks. ACW benefits both emerging and established writers and develops literary audiences by encouraging partnerships among existing regional organizations to promote diverse programs. ACW is based at Paul Smith’s College and is supported by membership and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Adirondack History Ski Tour of Great Camp Santanoni

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Adirondack Architectural Heritage (AARCH) is kicking-off their 2010 educational series with an interpretive cross-country ski into the 19th-century, Adirondack Great Camp, Camp Santanoni, located in the New York State Forest Preserve. Participants will learn about the camp’s history and architectural significance that make it. The 10-mile round trip ski, along the preserve’s gently sloping historic carriage road, leads into the majestic wilderness estate and a National Historic Landmark. Participants will be able to visit the camp’s three complexes- the Gate Lodge, the Farm, and view the massive log retreat at the Main Camp, the work of architect Robert Robertson. They will also see the authentic Adirondack rustic interiors and learn about the restoration of the camp.

The tour will be led by AARCH staff including John Friauf, a former AARCH Board Member. The group will depart Santanoni Preserve parking area, off Route 28N in the hamlet of Newcomb at 10AM, returning around 3 PM. This is a remote site. Participants are encouraged to bring a trail lunch and plenty of hydration. The fee is $20 for members and $30 for non-members. Advance registration is required by calling AARCH at (518) 834-9328.

Adirondack Architectural Heritage (AARCH) is the private, non-profit, historic preservation organization for the Adirondack Park region. AARCH works in partnership with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the Town of Newcomb to preserve and interpret Camp Santanoni. This tour is one of over fifty events in our annual series highlighting the region’s vast architectural legacy. For more information on AARCH including membership and a complete 2010 program schedule contact AARCH at (518) 834-9328 or visit our website at www.aarch.org.

19th Century Magic at the Adirondack Museum

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In the 19th century, itinerant magicians traveled throughout the Adirondacks delighting local residents with tricks and dazzling illusions as they performed in town halls and local hotels. Prepare to be mystified and amazed on Sunday, January 17, 2010 as the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake, New York presents &#822019th Century Magic and Beyond&#8221 a magic show for all ages with Tom Verner.

Tom Verner is both a performer and historian of American magic. His shows include many of the set pieces of magic performed across the United States by magicians in the 1800s. Verner involves children and adults alike in his humorous, entertaining, and intelligent presentations.

Verner has performed magic around the world for thirty years. He has worked with the United Nations for the past eight years, creating magic for more than 400,000 refugee and orphaned children in many of the most troubled parts of the globe. Tom Verner is also a Clinical Psychologist who practices and teaches.

The program will be the first in the museum’s always-popular Cabin Fever Sunday series. Held in the Auditorium, the presentation will begin promptly at 1:30 p.m. Cabin Fever Sunday programs are offered at no charge to museum members. The fee for non-members is $5.00. There is no charge for children of elementary school age or younger. Refreshments will be served. For additional information, please call the Education Department at (518) 352-7311, ext. 128 or visit the museum’s web site at
www.adirondackmuseum.org.

Photo: Tom Verner.

Reminder: 10 Influential People in Adirondack History

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Over at Adirondack Almanack we’re still looking for ideas about who should be included on a list of the Adirondack region’s most influential people. We’ll be offering a list of the people who have had the greatest impact on the Adirondacks on January 18th. Head over to the original post to leave your suggestions in the comments.

Suggestions should reflect the environmental, cultural, and political history of the park, and they need not be residents of the region, provided their impact was significantly felt here.

North Creek: Songs and Stories of Loggers, Miners

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Begin the New Year with an afternoon of engaging tunes and tales. Join the staff of the Adirondack Museum for &#8220Working for the Man: Songs and Stories of Adirondack Lumberjacks and Miners.&#8221 The special program will be held at the Tannery Pond Community Center in North Creek, New York on Sunday, January 10, 2010 at 3:30 p.m. There will be no charge for museum members and children of elementary school age or younger. The fee for non-members is $5.00.

The historic work of loggers and miners was framed by dangerous conditions, back breaking work, long hours, and low pay. Although daily life was hard and often heartbreaking, it was also filled with music, laughter, stories, and strong community ties.

&#8220Working for the Man&#8221 will feature musician Lee Knight singing traditional ballads of logging, mining, and rural life. Museum Educator Christine Campeau will join Knight to share historic photographs, artifacts from museum collections, and stories of work, family, and life in Adirondack logging and mining communities.

Born in the Adirondacks, Lee Knight now lives in Cashiers, North Carolina. He is a singer, storyteller, song collector, and teacher of folklore, folk life, and folk music. He performs regularly at concerts, folk festivals, and summer camps, where he tells stories, sings ballads, and calls dances. He has appeared with Pete Seeger, Jean Ritchie, Bill Monroe, Alan Lomax, and many others. He will play traditional hand-made instruments.

Following the program, Lee Knight will perform at the Copperfield Inn from 4:30 p.m. until 6:00 p.m.

Photo: Ruby Mountain Mine, North River Garnet Company. Collection of the Adirondack Museum.

The Most Influential People in Adirondack History?

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Over at my other web project Adirondack Almanack we’re putting together an interesting list of the most influential people in Adirondack history. The list is somewhat of an exercise in &#8216-big man history’ but it grew from discussions at the Almanack over the two great traditions of modern Adirondack thought: those who support the forest preserve, the park, and the Adirondack Park Agency, and those who generally oppose those institutions.

Head over there &#8211 I’ve included a brainstormed list of people from the environmental, cultural, and political history of the park, but I’d like to hear your opinions and suggestions.

Terror in the Adirondacks: Serial Killer Robert Garrow

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Lawrence P. Gooley has published another outstanding chronicle of Adirondack history, Terror in the Adirondacks: The True Story of Serial Killer Robert F. Garrow. The book chronicles the story of Garrow, an abused Dannemora child, turned thief, serial rapist and killer who admitted to seven rapes and four murders, although police believed there were many more. Among his victims were campers near Speculator in Hamilton County where Garrow escaped a police dragnet and traveled up Route 30 through Indian Lake and Long Lake and eventually made his way to Witherbee where he was tracked down and shot in the foot.

Claiming he was partially paralyzed, Garrow sued the State of New York for $10 million for negligence in his medical care. In exchange for dropping the suit, Garrow was moved to a medium security prison. He was shot and killed during a prison escape in September 1978 &#8211 he had faked his paralysis.

Gooley, who lived the story in the 1970s, says the book tells &#8220a remarkable story, with repercussions locally, statewide, and nationwide.&#8221 &#8220For climbers like me, it was a terrible time in the mountains,&#8221 he said. &#8220Seeing the evidence of what he did to some of his victims confirmed for me that we were right to be wary three decades ago.&#8221

&#8220I researched his entire life story from birth to grave, and it really is an amazing story, Gooley told the Almanack, &#8220there has been much misinformation on parts of his story, and it has been repeated on many websites and in newspaper stories over the years.&#8221 Gooley says he used multiple sources in order to &#8220get the story right,&#8221 including about 2,000 pages of official court transcripts. &#8220That gave me proof that even Garrow’s attorney changed the story,&#8221 the author said, &#8220telling tales 35 years later that directly contradict the official court record. He may not like certain parts of my commentary, but he’ll know I’m right.&#8221

Two years ago, Gooley won the Adirondack center For Writing’s Award for Nonfiction for Oliver’s War: An Adirondack Rebel Battles the Rockefeller Fortune. He actually interrupted his work on Terror in the Adirondacks to tell that story of Brandon Civil War veteran Oliver Lamora’s battle with William Rockefeller, brother of John D. Rockefeller. Gooley optioned the movie rights to a New York City company, which is still seeking funding for the film. &#8220Several interesting things happened in connection with that book, including a call from a NY Times editor and a visit from a member of the Rockefeller family,&#8221 Gooley said, &#8220It certainly has been interesting.&#8221

The book was published by Gooley’s own Bloated Toe Enterprises and can be purchased online and at smaller stores in the Clinton-Essex-Franklin county area.

Do You Recognize These Adirondack Faces?

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All bundled up and ready for fun and perhaps just a little mischief! Saranac Lake, New York photographer William F. Kollecker snapped a shot of these adorable children in 1935. The image is now in the collection of the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake, N.Y. Sadly, the names of the kids were not recorded on the photo.

The museum will use the photograph in advertising for the 2010 Cabin Fever Sunday Series. The happy little faces will smile out from posters and newspaper ads throughout the North Country. Do you know who they are?

The Adirondack Museum would like to complete the historical record connected with this photo, and learn the names of the children if possible.

If you recognize your mother, grandfather, or even yourself in the photograph, please contact Susan Dineen, Director of Marketing at (518) 352-7311, ext. 121 or email [email protected].

William F. Kollecker produced a rich collection of photographs of the Saranac Lake area. The photos are largely preserved in the Adirondack Collection of the Saranac Lake Free Library. He is recognized today as the most successful and prolific photographer in the village’s history.

According to Historic Saranac Lake, &#8220No other photographer captured the face and feeling of Saranac Lake or portrayed the lives and lifestyles of its citizens with greater accuracy or artistry for a comparable time period.&#8221 Among the many faces he captured were those of these children.

Photo: Photograph by William F. Kollecker, ca. 1935 from the collections of the Adirondack Museum.

Theodore Roosevelt: The Wilderness Warrior

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A new book on Teddy Roosevelt by New York Times bestselling historian Douglas Brinkley is described by the publisher as &#8220a sweeping historical narrative and eye-opening look at the pioneering environmental policies of President Theodore Roosevelt, avid bird-watcher, naturalist, and the founding father of America’s conservation movement.&#8221 For those interested in the Adirondack region, this new biography helps put TR’s Adirondack experiences into the lager context of wilderness protection and wildlife conservation history.

Brinkley draws on never-before-published materials for his look at the life of what he calls our &#8220naturalist president.&#8221 Launching from conservation work as New York State Governor, TR set aside more than 230 million acres of American wild lands between 1901 and 1909, and helped popularize the conservation of wild places.

Brinkley’s new book singles out the influential contributions of James Audubon, Charles Darwin, and John Muir in shaping Roosevelt’s view of the natural world. Some of the most interesting parts of the book relate to TR’s relationship with Dr. C. Hart Merriam, who reviewed the future president’s The Summer Birds of the Adirondacks in 1877- Merriam’s own The Mammals of the Adirondacks Region of Northeastern New York, published in 1884, was duly praised by TR.

Merriam and Roosevelt later worked successfully to reverse the declining Adirondack deer population (they brought whitetail from Maine), and to outlaw jack-lighting and hunting deer with dogs and so helped establish the principles of wildlife management by New York State.

During his political stepping-stone term as 33rd Governor of New York (1899-1900) TR made the forests of the state a focus of his policies. He pushed against &#8220the depredations of man,&#8221 the recurrent forest fires, and worked to strengthen fish and game laws. Roosevelt provided stewardship of the state’s forests and the Adirondack Park in particular, that led to the most progressive conservation and wilderness protection laws in the country.

TR also worked to replace political hacks on the New York Fisheries, Game, and Forest Commission (forerunner of the DEC), according to Brinkley, and replaced them with highly trained &#8220independent-minded biologists, zoologists, entomologists, foresters, sportsman hunters, algae specialists, trail guides, botanists, and activists for clean rivers.&#8221 To help pay the bill he pushed for higher taxes on corporations while also pursuing a progressive politics &#8211 what Brinkley calls &#8220an activist reformist agenda.&#8221

The book ranges with Roosevelt to Yellowstone, the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Dakota Territory, and the Big Horn Mountains. It does capture Roosevelt’s time in the Adirondacks, but its’ strength is in putting that time into the larger context of Roosevelt’s life as a wilderness conservationist. For example, TR’s opposition to the Utica Electric Light Company’s Adirondack incursions is only mentioned in passing, though Brinkley’s treatment of the relationship between Gifford Pinchot and TR is more developed. An index entry &#8211 &#8220Adirondack National Park&#8221 &#8211 is lightly misused bringing into concern how much Brinkley really appreciates the impact of Roosevelt’s Adirondack experiences (both in-country and in Albany) on his wilderness ethic.

All in all, however, Wilderness Warrior is a well written collection of the strands of Roosevelt’s conservationist ideas, woven into a readable narrative. Considering TR’s role in so many disciplines related to our forests, that’s no mean feat.

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